The invention concerns a grill device with a firebox, which extends upward on two opposite sides of two sidewalls, which are equipped with a holding device for the support of a spit bar which is mounted between the sidewalls. A grease-drip pan is fastened to the back of the firebox and extends between the rear vertical edges of the side walls. Legs are fastened to opposite sides of the firebox, and a grid can be placed between the holding device and an upper opening of the firebox.
Grills of this type have found widespread usage over the past years, especially within the realm of private use. Portable in form, they serve for the grilling of poultry or the roasting of sausages, shashliks and the like. The grill is ideal for setup in the garden where it becomes the culinary center of the garden party. When the sidewalls, the grease-drip pan, the readily available hood sections as well as the legs and grid are removed from the firebox, the grill fits easily into any automobile trunk and is therefore an ideal piece of cooking equipment for camping trips.
The ease in portability of the grill limits its size, especially in reference to the useful cooking area of the grid. When serving a large party of guests with bratwurst, shashliks or the like, an undesirable characteristic of the grill becomes evident when, due to the lack of sufficient grilling space, not all of the guests can be offered a sausage at the same time. Consequently, some of the guests must wait.
Prior art grills have yet a drawback in another respect. When chicken, for example, must be grilled to a well-done stage, melted fat begins to drip into the hot coals, causing abrupt flaming which chars the flesh. For this reason, the firebox together with the attached grease-catch pan can be tilted vertically over the base of the grill, which lets the grease drip into the grease-catch pan and allows the chicken to continue cooking from the side. To tilt the firebox it is necessary to loosen certain stop-screws on the pivot joint by which the legs are attached to the firebox. Since the pivot joint is directly connected to the firebox, its temperature becomes so great that the unprotected hand can be burned while loosening the screws. Since the entire grill becomes hot, it is rather difficult to maneuver the firebox into the desired position.
One object of the present invention is to provide an improved grill that enables the simultaneous serving of a greater number of sausages, shashliks and the like.
A second object is to provide an improved grill which also can be more easily maneuvered into the desired position without the necessity of directly touching the hot grill parts.
The present invention is predicated in part upon the concept of providing a grill including a warming chamber featuring at least one flat-plate opening, enclosed on at least two sides, for the heating and continued warming of at least one heat-conducting flat-plate. This enables the already cooked sausages on the flat-plate to be kept at increased temperatures until all the sausages are ready for serving.
A second important feature of the present invention is a construction which provides greater ease in the maneuvering of the grill. In accordance with the present invention, the firebox is provided on each of its sides with a pivot which allows the firebox to be swiveled on an axis parallel to the base of the grill between a first position, in which the base of the firebox is essentially parallel with the base of the grill, and a second position, in which the base of the firebox is essentially vertical to the base of the grill. The pivot joint consists of a stub-shaft extending outwardly from the firebox and including a lateral stop-arm. The grill legs carry a cradle into which fits the diameter of the shaft. The cradle is provided with at least one stop-face for the engagement with the stop-arm.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description of the drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the grill.